


Snapshots of Another Life

by PanBoleyn



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Crossover, F/F, legit!AU, minor crossover, yes it's yet another legit verse from me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-02
Updated: 2014-10-02
Packaged: 2018-02-19 15:44:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2393975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanBoleyn/pseuds/PanBoleyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Glimpses into a world where instead of Mike and Harvey, we find Myka and Harper.</p><p>Chapter 1: Harper didn't hire an associate and she thinks she's scot-free, but Jessica has other plans...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snapshots of Another Life

**Author's Note:**

> Myka is actually a lawyer in this 'verse partly because in my headcanon Trevor treats her like he's an overprotective brother, thus the card game that set the whole test answer sale in motion doesn't happen, but mostly because, as my previous two legit!AUs will prove, I prefer them. It keeps me from being stuck in the corner I believe canon's written itself into regarding Mike's secret.
> 
> Also, mild crossover in Myka's backstory with 'How To Get Away With Murder'; she would have been in Keating's class several years before the students we see in that show, since Suits begins in 2011 and I assume 'Murder' begins in fall 2014.

Harper comes into work that morning more than a little pleased with herself. She did what Jessica wanted yesterday, held interviews with the list of people given to Donna, and found all those little boys completely lacking. Granted, even if one or two of them had been marginally worth something, she still wouldn’t have hired one. It would have taken someone impressive to convince Harper to hire them.

She’s a senior partner and has every excuse to keep working solo, just as she likes. So Harper thinks she has more than a little reason to be in as good a mood as she is. It’s all over, though, when Donna stops her on the way into her office. “Jessica wants to see you.”

“Did she say why?”

“No, but I’d guess it has something to do with yesterday’s parade of idiots.”

See, this is why Harper and Donna get along so well. They understand each other. “Well, I’d better get the scolding over with so I can get back to my day,” Harper says with a shrug, and turns on her heel to head for Jessica’s office instead of her own. Jessica’s secretary waves her in, and Harper is peripherally aware of the young woman sitting off to the side, but she doesn’t pay her any mind.

“Donna said you wanted to see me?” she asks in her most innocent tone, as Jessica gives her the usual exasperated glare.

“I thought I told you to hire an associate.”

“And I tried, honestly.” More or less. Had Harper met someone worth taking on, she would have hired an associate. Just because she was right all along that she wouldn’t, and went in expecting it, doesn’t mean she didn’t give it a try. “It’s like I said, Jessica, they were all disappointing and would only have slowed me down.”

“The workload of a senior partner requires a personal associate,” Jessica says flatly, and Harper restrains herself from rolling her eyes.

“I can handle it, Jessica.” She doesn’t see the problem. She’s been punching above her weight since she got here, which means surely she’s already been handling the workload of a senior partner without the title. And if she’s wrong about that, then she’ll adjust. But she doesn’t need some useless child trailing her around.

“This isn’t negotiable,” Jessica says, but there’s a faint smile on her face and considering the conversation she shouldn’t be smiling. “I had a feeling you weren’t going to pick someone, so I went ahead and handled things for you.”

_Wait, what?_ It takes Harper a moment to catch up, and then she frowns. “You didn’t.”

“I did.” Jessica’s smile is a full-blown smirk as she nods toward the girl Harper’d barely noticed until now. “Harper Specter, Mikaela Ross. There you go, Harper, you have an associate, and you know I don’t hire useless people, so don’t even start with that.”

Mikaela Ross has big blue eyes, pixie-cut blonde hair, and a skirt suit that looks like it may be from Goodwill - ok, it’s not really that bad, but if asked Harper will say it is because compared to what most of them wear that’s how it looks. The fit’s a little awkward too. And those blue eyes are sparking with what Harper thinks is almost certainly fury, which might be justified considering what she’s just sat and listened to. She’s easy on the eyes, which is a nice bonus if she’s worth the trouble. Since Jessica picked her, the odds are decent, but that doesn’t mean Harper’s going to back down completely.

“We’re not finished.”

“Yes we are,” Jessica says. “Both of you, shoo. Harper, fill her in on your current cases, get used to working together.”

Harper sighs, gesturing for Mikaela to follow. “Come on, you look like you need coffee.”

“What law minion doesn’t?” Mikaela quips, and Christ, the kid’s wearing heels so small she may as well be in flats. And her head only just comes to Harper’s shoulder; she needs the extra height of proper heels. Harper rolls her eyes.

“Law minion, huh? Very clever.” Mikaela, clearly aware that Harper’s mocking her, narrows her eyes.

“Are you done yet? Because I may have wanted to work here, but I didn’t ask your boss to force you to work with me.”

Harper raises her eyebrows, surprised at being called out. “Taking this personally, are you?”

“Well, wouldn’t you?”

True enough. “Look, kid, it’s not you, it’s the principle of the thing. Jessica’s standards are as high as mine, if not higher, so you can do the job, I’m sure. I just don’t need anyone to do the job.” Though if she’s going to be stuck with someone, a girl with the guts to talk back instead of one of the sycophant boys from yesterday is at least more tolerable.

Mikaela relaxes a little, more curious than offended now. “Why don’t you want an associate? Means less grunt work for you. Hell, my first semester of law school, before I switched to Harvard, my criminal law professor hired five of us as interns for more help with the workload. Granted, she had a private practice with only her and two associates, but still.”

Harper shrugs. “I don’t work well with others, never have. And besides that, everyone I saw yesterday, and most of our associate pool in general, is made up of the usual Harvard douches spending all day compensating for their dick size.”

Mikaela laughs. “I have heard they tend to disappoint in that regard.”

They get to the coffee cart and Harper orders her coffee and then Mikaela’s, after asking what she takes. A cup of coffee seems a fair trade for the little scene in Jessica’s office, even if said coffee has a scary amount of sugar in it. “So, Mikaela -”

“Myka.”

“Myka, then. You said your former professor at - where did you go before Harvard?”

“Middleton University, it’s in Philadelphia. And yeah, Professor Keating had some of us working as legal assistants, including me. It’s some experience working in law, though she was a criminal defense attorney, not corporate law,” Mikaela - Myka - explains. “I only went to Middleton for a year, it was mostly for financial reasons. Then Harvard for my second two. Did an int-”

“I don’t need the whole rundown,” Harper cuts her off. “I’m sure Jessica considered it carefully.” And probably picked Myka partly because of Harper’s complaints about needing more variety in the associates. A year not at Harvard isn’t much variety, but who knows, maybe it and the assistant job helped her learn to think outside the box. “The assistant job is interesting, your other internship, probably not. Clerking, right?”

“Yeah,” Myka admits.

“Exactly. So, not interesting. Now, if there’s something else in your skillset that is unusual, that I’m willing to hear.” One advantage to the younger woman’s almost-flats is that, shorter legs aside, she keeps up with Harper’s long strides without much trouble, falling into step with her like they’ve been walking around the financial district together for months already. If Harper were a sentimental woman… She’s not, of course, so it doesn’t matter.

“I have eidetic memory,” Myka says, a faint smile on her face.

“I’m sorry?”

“I see something, I remember it. I read something, I understand it, and I never forget anything I see or read. So I’m kind of a walking library.”

Harper stops for a minute to study her face. Now that is interesting, if it’s true. It sounds like the kind of exaggeration someone tells to make themselves sound more impressive. “Hmm. Ever read _Pride and Prejudice_?” It’s random, but it’s one of the books on Harper’s hardly-used Kindle app (Marcus had loaded the app for her, and even though her Jane Austen phase had been over before high school ended, that her little brother had remembered was sweet of him.)

“Uh… Yes. Why do you ask?”

Harper has her phone out, flicking through the book. “First two paragraphs of chapter four. I’d rather test you with a law book, but unfortunately I don’t have one to hand right this second. Should be good enough to be going on with, though.”

Myka closes her eyes for a moment. “‘When Jane and Elizabeth were alone, the former, who had been cautious in her praise of Mr. Bingley before, expressed to her sister how very much she admired him. “He is just what a young man ought to be,” said she, “sensible, good-humored, lively, and I never saw such happy manners! So much ease, with such perfect good breeding!”’”

Damn. Granted, it’s a famous enough book that the kid could have just memorized parts of it to prove her story, but to be able to recite word-perfect a randomly picked spot? It’s possible she’s faking, but highly unlikely. “Not bad. So you just memorize everything?”

“Well, I’m not a parrot, I know how to think,” Myka says, that defensiveness flaring up again.

“That remains to be seen, but I think I’ll give you a chance, kitten.”

Myka almost chokes on her coffee, and Harper thinks, _Specter: 1, Ross: 0_. She’s happier about that than she’d expect to be, really.

“ _Kitten_?” Myka says, voice an octave higher, looking like she’s not sure if she should be amused of offended.

Harper gives her an entirely innocent look. "Is that a problem?"

"Does it matter?" But Myka asks the question with a wry grin, clearly having decided to be amused instead of offended.

"No, not really. Come on, we have work to do, kid." And she'll get to watch Donna put Myka through a little gauntlet, which is always fun.

Speaking of work, either Donna or Harper herself will need to have a chat with Myka about those clothes, but it can wait an hour or two.

 


End file.
